Modern Theories, From Self-Founded Reason to Communicative Reason

Modernity theories occupy a vast scope in the theoretical and research areas. Instances can be found in philosophical, historical-civil, sociological-historical approaches, and finally sociology of religion. Within any of these approaches some analytical methods and theories with specific names and natures have been developed. The current research started with the supposition that all these approaches in this big spectrum can be claimed to revolve around action and reaction concepts on one hand, and self-founded and communicative reason on the other. By using this framework, the aforementioned notions can be conceptualized and differentiated; that is the base for this study to analyze. The research hypothesis is that using modernity theories began with the self-founded and autonomic action and then was extended to communicative reason and interaction. In this passage, explaining the essence of modernity was transmitted from philosophy to sociology in form of a process by which the society was rationalized while conceptualizing reason made a passage through transcendental to instrumental and then to communicative reason. The focus of this research is on the exploration of this path with a historical-hermeneutical approach.